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Giving boss notice by phone


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So I need to give notice-I’ve accepted a new job and start in two weeks.

My current boss decided to go out of town all week. He does this routinely-says he’ll be in the office, then disappear for a week on vacation.

I feel like a dick giving notice by phone, but I’ve put it off as long as I can and I’m trying to close a transaction by the time I leave, so new job has been very accommodating due to that.

Anyone been in a similar spot and had to do this? Not sure I need a ton of help, just interested to hear how it went down for others 

Edited by BillyMadison
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Agree with Texanbychoice. Make the offer to discuss.

If he's a dick, he'll decline.  If you're a shit employee, he'll decline.  Anything else, and he'll likely give you the respect you are giving him.

 

I've had employees quit via text before. HR will ask how the exit interview went.  I just tell them the employee already did it with their style of notice.  Difference in your situation is that your boss is actually unavailable for a face to face.   The offer of zoom or whatever could be viewed as equally professional in the covid world, given your time restraints.

Edited by slorch
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1 hour ago, slorch said:

If he's a dick, he'll decline.

Reminds me of when I left Big 4 for a local advisory firm. The partner I reported into kept canceling the meeting until I was out of time to give notice. I couldn’t reach her because she was traveling. So I left her a vm, emailed HR and cc’d her. She got pissed and wouldn’t talk to me. “This is not the way you’re supposed to handle this.”

Fast forward many years and I inherited her as a vendor. It was amazing how I immediately became her best friend.  Engagement wrapped up and I brought in new firms for future work.

Whatever you do, don’t be a dick. You never know when it will come back to you.

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If you're in the office together, walk by the office and say you need to talk. I suppose if you're not in the office together, than a text or email asking him to call you is good.

Unfortunately you're always at the mercy whether the boss thinks you quit "correctly" or not. I've had a former boss that said it was unethical (his words) to quit with any major work effort in progress, like a project. In other words, he thought the only time to quit is when all of my projects miraculously ended on the same day. Which never happened.

You can't control how others react to you. Do what you think is best and don't worry about the rest.

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19 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I've had a former boss that said it was unethical (his words) to quit with any major work effort in progress, like a project. In other words, he thought the only time to quit is when all of my projects miraculously ended on the same day. Which never happened.

I once gave notice telling my boss I'd stay until a big project went into smooth production and didn't really need me, it seemed to work out ok. Wound up being ~6mo notice.

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One of my best friends once gave his 2-week notice via voicemail at 1am from a pay phone outside a titty bar.  

He was doing nothing but bitching about his job and we finally got sick of it and told him, "Do something about it then, pussy. Quit!"  He did.

He said that all his boss said to him the next Monday was "Well, that's the first time I've ever had anyone resign over voicemail..."

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One of my guys emailed me his resignation on Monday. He hasn't been in the office since November when Covid went to shit. We talk regularly, so this caught me by surprise.

My boss and our president met with him yesterday to counter-offer. He can fall back into family money, so pay's not really the issue. It's more about visibility and respect for him. With his level of experience and background, I give him PLENTY of respect and advocate every time I get, but some of the VPs treat him like a common estimator. It's frustrating as hell, and I hope the ongoing discussions will make him change his mind.

But back to the OP, giving notice by phone is better than notice by email.

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The flipside of that is when someone thinks they are hot shit and resign...expecting you to grovel/ beg them to stay.  Fuck you.  See ya later.   Thanks for doing it voluntarily...

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I think leaving without a full 2 weeks is worse. I had to do that the last place I left, and they were kind of perturbed. Once they cooled off it was like hey man, I’ve been going 16 hours/day for a year, my shit is caught up and I’ll be available for anything you need that I didn’t hand off well, but I gots to go.  They called a few times and I walked my ex peer thru it.  Was all good in the end.  
 

To make matters worse, I was in Italy for a 2 week kick off meeting with Exxon when I got the offer.  No brainer deal so I told them the first morning I was back in US. Best move I ever made. 

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I once resigned from a very small company. Went to my manager’s office and gave him the news. Then I asked him if I should also go and tell the owner or if he was gonna do that. He goes “I’ll tell him and he’ll probably want to talk to you”. As it turns out, the owner took it very badly and did not want to talk to me. In fact for the remaining two weeks he took great care to look and act like the bitchass that he was every chance he got. It was a very unpleasant last two weeks.

Next time I resign (which will be the last time) I think I’ll do it James Bond style. Email with “I hereby tender my resignation with immediate effect”.

Edited by XYZ
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Giving 2 weeks notice? Sheeee-it. The last time I quit (6 years ago), I have them no notice. I had just finished a loud argument with my insecure, passive aggressive bitch-ass of a boss (VP). At the time, I thought joining the company would be a good opportunity to transition from construction to development. But every single day of the 9 months working there was fucking miserable. After the argument, I walked back to my desk, grabbed the resignation letter which I had prepared for at least a few weeks, handed it to him and told him I'm peacing out. See you never, I'm packing my shit and leaving.

The asshole was probably laughing his way out to his car. He must've called a bunch of people bragging about me quitting, because within 30 minutes, an old coworker who I hadn't talked to for 5-6 years called me out of the blue and said "Hey, I heard you quit."

But in the end, I got the last laugh. My boss's boss (SVP) called me that night to talk about something. I told him "Cool, but actually I just quit today". My boss's boss's boss (Exec VP) called called me Saturday asking me to stay. They asked me to stay put while they figure things out. By the following Wednesday, my boss was fired, and they offered me his position.

I had already accepted the offer to go back to my old company so I told them nope. Good thing as well, because just a few months later they laid off the entire apartment development group. 

Edited by Superhero
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If your boss is always on vacation, just start the new job while still drawing a check at the old one. If old boss comes back and asks where you are, say you are on vacation. Then most likely he goes on vacation again as well.

I figure you've got a good month before the old boss fires you, if he ever does.

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33 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

If your boss is always on vacation, just start the new job while still drawing a check at the old one. If old boss comes back and asks where you are, say you are on vacation. Then most likely he goes on vacation again as well.

I figure you've got a good month before the old boss fires you, if he ever does.

Especially is you’re working remote. If you play your cards right you could draw two checks for a few months 

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Not that anybody gives a shit, but the only time I could get in touch with my boss was when he was boarding a plane. Problem was he blew me off while he partied with his buddies all week, so because he was completely dismissive I had to break the news while he was probably surrounded by strangers with a 5 minute window to explain.

in the end, I left on good terms, closed a deal that made him a bunch of money and start a new job tomorrow. In turned down his offers to try to keep me around. Thanks surly 

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2 hours ago, BillyMadison said:

Not that anybody gives a shit, but the only time I could get in touch with my boss was when he was boarding a plane. Problem was he blew me off while he partied with his buddies all week, so because he was completely dismissive I had to break the news while he was probably surrounded by strangers with a 5 minute window to explain.

in the end, I left on good terms, closed a deal that made him a bunch of money and start a new job tomorrow. In turned down his offers to try to keep me around. Thanks surly 

Well, that’s boring...

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On 3/1/2021 at 9:50 PM, NeverMarryAStripper said:

I had one who left for lunch and just never came back 

I did something similar the one time I quit a job.  Just cleaned out my office and left without notifying my boss.  Because fuck him.  The people I liked there knew I was leaving, so he could have asked them, but they all hated him, too.  

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2 hours ago, DallasHorn26 said:

I was let go over the phone from one place(was working remote) they had a courier knocking on my door 30 mins later to collect my laptop and access card.

What happens if you don’t give them back?

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3 hours ago, DallasHorn26 said:

I was let go over the phone from one place(was working remote) they had a courier knocking on my door 30 mins later to collect my laptop and access card.

Read that as "they had a cougar knocking on my door". 

If I ever lay someone off, I'll send them off with a case of PBR and a BOGO groupon for South Austin's mom. Make them forget for a few hours that I fired them.

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